Over the last few months, we did research on potential places to move to, the pros and cons of each of these locations, visa qualifications, must-see sights, etc. Australia will always be home, but we can have homes away from homes, too.
We had this insanely beautiful view all to ourselves. Moonlight Crag sits in my top five hikes in Queensland for a very good reason: while some hiking trails are lovely the entire way with one hidden gem that draws in the crowds, Moonlight Crag has incredible views the entire way and has no less than four magical spots that are crowd pleasers.
When you drive along this beach with the windows down, the colours of the water and the sand dunes flow together to create a vibrant kaleidoscopic memory that you will not forget. And even on cloudier days, it is still an amazing little spot.
You are surrounded by beautiful little coloured fish. They literally will swim towards you out of curiosity and then stay with you as you swim around, especially next to the wrecks.
The waterfall breaks over a fallen tree, and the result is something that seems out of a fairytale – you’re in a cave, watching a waterfall break and churn into a creek that flows between a rainforest. At night, the entire underside of the cave lights up with hundreds of glow worms.
This particular spot was amazing because we found it entirely by accident. After watching riders do their practice runs all day from the finish line, we found this field of little yellow flowers. It was beautiful.
Coolangatta beach is one of the most popular beaches on the Gold Coast in Australia. During the year, sometimes you can watch whales breach off in the distance, and occasionally you can see dolphins swim in quite close to the shore.
Cathedral Cove is magic, and you can kayak through it during high tide when the cave fills with water. You walk down along the coast carved out of cliffs, with a full view of the sapphire and turquoise ocean in some sections, and lush rainforests in others.
The water is the clearest and most tranquil turquoise colour that you can imagine. Lake Tekapo is picturesque, and it is also one of the places in NZ that is most famous for clear and bright sightings of the incredible Aurora Australis.
The drive into Queenstown is still one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen in my life. Picture the kind of snow-capped mountains that you see all over tourism websites, and the kind of vibrantly clear water that seems impossible, and you have Queenstown.
The drive into Milford Sound is a scenic one, with extraordinary blue lakes and emerald trees, and mountains capped with snow white crests. There is nowhere on Earth quite like Milford Sound.
With stunning waterfalls surrounded by dense Australian bush, this place is special. Interestingly, Cedar Creek Falls was also the shooting location for television series Terra Nova. Even so, this magical little spot remains (mostly) a secret.
